SPOILERS AHEAD FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAS AIRED TO DATE
I’m sorry to disappoint you, loyal reader, by not writing a review of Episode 12, but I just didn’t have time. Suffice it to say that I thought it was a quality episode, but I’m much more interested in talking about this week’s brilliant season finale, “Shut the Door. Have a Seat”.
The episode opens on a meeting between Don and Conrad Hilton, where Hilton drops the bomb that PPL is being sold to the loathsome McCann-Erickson. Hilton tells Don that under the circumstances, he’ll have to take his business elsewhere. When Don reminds him that he (Don) no longer has that luxury because of the contract Hilton insisted he sign, Hilton calls him out for being a whiny baby who complains rather than getting things done. The rest of the episode is about Don trying to get something done, in some cases having to humble himself to do so.
He takes the news to Cooper and convinces him that they should try to buy the company back from PPL before the sale to McCann is final. Cooper is reticent at first, and points out that they’ll need Roger on board in order to have any chance of taking Lucky Strike with them. This puts Don in the position of having to apologize to Roger for not caring about his work or his friendship. “You’re not good at relationships,” says Roger, “because you don’t value them.” No truer words have ever been spoken about Don Draper. Even apart from the obvious cases of Betty and his younger brother, Don has almost systematically driven people away even as he has (briefly) attracted others. But Roger agrees to participate in their attempt, notwithstanding Bert’s “join or die” pitch.
When they take their offer to Lane, he scoffs that the company is worth much more now than when PPL bought it. But Lane is caught off guard by the news that McCann is also buying PPL. Knowing that he may be expendable, Lane takes Don, Bert, and Roger the news. Upon hearing this, Don hatches a plan: Lane will fire them — freeing them of their contracts — and they’ll start their own agency, with Lane as a partner. Lane agrees, and suddenly the episode turns into a heist story! They’ll need to hand pick the people they want to carry over to the new company, lay the foundation for a smooth transition for any clients they can poach, and steal whatever materials they’ll need to get started on Monday.
Don’s first action under this plan is to tell Peggy to get ready to change companies, but she balks. “I’m not going to beg you,” says Don. “Beg me?” she replies. “You didn’t even ask me.” Pete, fortunately, is more amenable to the idea, since he has been planning to leave Sterling-Cooper for greener pastures anyway. In exchange for a partnership, Pete agrees to bring eight million dollars of accounts to the new company, but first demands that Don suck up to him — which he does. Don then makes a visit to Peggy’s home to stroke her ego and vows to spend the rest of his life trying to hire her if she says no — once again humbling himself. She relents and joins the team. Harry and his television expertise rounds out the new company, along with the welcome return of Joan, whose services are required because no one knows where any of the supplies or documents are stored. One can only hope that poor Sal will find a home with the new company too, though with Lucky Strike as a client, maybe that won’t be possible.
As they walk out the S-C doors for the last time, Roger muses about how long it will be before they’re b ack in a big, fancy office. “I never saw myself working in a place like this,” says Don. It’s hard to imagine how he even could have, growing up on a wheat farm during the depression. I always find it interesting how the show uses Don’s flashbacks. In the case of this episode, Archie Whitman is faced with selling his wheat at half price or waiting until the price goes up (but potentially losing his farm in the interim). When he finally decides to sell the cut-rate wheat after all, he’s kicked in the face by a spooked horse, which kills him. Don knows from experience how quickly you can go from having almost nothing to having nothing.
It appears that as far as his marriage goes, he now has nothing. Betty has left him. After consulting an attorney, she decides to go to Reno so she can get a divorce without having to prove infidelity. But first, Don roughs her up a little bit, accusing her of breaking up the family and calling her a whore. It’s an ugly scene, one of the ugliest we’ve had between the two. The scene cuts against the easy impulse to root for Don to succeed at starting a new company, because there is nothing sympathetic about the way this philandering asshole talks to Betty, or the way he says “I don’t care” when she warns him that his yelling will wake the baby.
I’m sad for the children, who have apparently been left behind with Carla — not Don — while Betty and Henry jet off to Reno to fulfill the six-week residency requirements to qualify for a divorce. Are they going to be spending Christmas with the housekeeper?
There are a few things to quibble with in this episode — a lack of resolution to the Suzanne Farrell plotline, the way the relationship with Hilton fizzles out, the boilerplate “Mommy and Daddy won’t be living together anymore” scene — but all in all, this was the most enjoyable episode of the season, and one of the finest of the whole series. I’ve never been so excited about the formation of a new advertising agency! The episode had plenty of laugh out loud moments (like Trudy bringing sandwiches to the new office while wearing another ridiculous hat), but even the moments that weren’t outright humorous made me smile. And I was more than happy to see the Draper marriage finally reach its logical, necessary end. I don’t really find Henry Francis to be all that interesting, but getting Don and Betty apart had to happen. Incidentally, I think Don looks about fifteen years older when he has to defend himself against Betty’s scorn. He looks so defeated in those scenes.
As Sterling-Cooper effectively falls apart, we see Don broken down to his bare essence. He’s insulted by Hilton. He lowers himself to convince Roger, Pete, and Peggy to go along with his plans. And Betty kicks him out of the house. But I think Roger was wrong that Don doesn’t value any relationships: he seems to genuinely care about his children — the scene where he discovers Sally sleeping on the cot and lies down with her was poignant — which makes it all the more perplexing that he’s not caring for them while Betty’s in Reno. But I guess the fatherly roles were different in 1963.
It was a fun romp. I wish we didn’t have to wait until August to see the next one.
Rating: 
“Did you wash your hands?!”
